TRADITIONAL RUKAI WEDDING RITUAL TESTS WOMEN'S STRENGTH|南島族群婚禮 新人循魯凱族傳統儀式完婚

Back in Taiwan, ten couples from the indigenous Rukai tribe recently tied the knot by holding a traditional ceremony, where elaborately dressed brides swing on giant swings, helped by their grooms. The Rukai people view the swing as a sign of blessing. Wearing an ornate headdress and clothes decorated with wild boar tusks, a woman from Taiwan's indigenous Rukai tribe sits on a flower-adorned sedan chair next to her fiancé, ready for their wedding. She is then carried to the wedding ceremony, where she dances with her partner and swings on a swing to fulfill a test. The swing is made of a loop of flexible rope, and the woman has to maintain her body straight and upright to prove to her tribe that she is capable of being a wife. ==CHANG MIN-CHEN bride== This kind of traditional Rukai wedding is rarely accessible to people nowadays. I think that this is a tradition worthy of protecting and preserving. The Rukai people view the swing as a sign of blessing to newly-wed couples, as they start their new life as a family. Besides using the swing in wedding ceremonies, it is also used during the Harvest Festival once a year. As more and more young indigenous people leave their tribes to pursue higher studies and find jobs in cities, indigenous tribes struggle to maintain their traditions. However, when it comes to weddings, many still choose to celebrate in the traditional way, asking for the chieftain's blessing. ==DALAPATHANE PATHAGAO Chieftain of Baihe Village== Young people only follow traditional ceremonies when they are in the tribe. They ask for the chieftain's blessing for the partner they have chosen themselves. Our lives have changed, but they still trust the chieftain's authority. They also come back to the chieftain to name their children. Interestingly, not all traditional wedding rituals are as popular, as some find them too strict to follow. ==DALUZALUM CEMELESAI bridegroom== The Rukai tradition forbids the groom and the bride to sleep in the same bed before marriage. I think that it (the Rukai tradition) is very strict. Curator of the Rukai Culture Museum in Pingtung County said that through traditional ceremonies, people get the opportunity to examine, and practice traditions. The most natural way to preserve tradition is by experiencing and practicing it directly. TRANSLATED BY：ARIEL HSIEH